1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for automated translation of speech in a real-time conferencing or chat environment. Particularly, the present invention integrates speed recognition, machine translation, and speech generation technology into a system for accepting messages from and broadcasting messages to subscribers of an online information system such that a message spoken by a subscriber in a first language may be heard by subscribers in a second language.
2. Description of Related Art
Subscribers to online information services today may communicate with other subscribers in accordance with asynchronous communication methods such as electronic mail. Communications between subscribers to an online information service may also occur in real time as subscribers initiate and join conference room or xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d sessions managed by the information service. Online information services and other components networks that support real-time conferencing or chat are increasingly being accessed by users who speak a variety of languages. Consequently, online discussions between subscribers who have similar interests and who understand the same language are proliferating. Although subscribers throughout the world may have similar interests, a subscriber may be prevented from participating in a particular conferencing or chat session because he does not understand the language in which the discussion is being conducted. For example, a person who is interested in international law and who understands only French may be prevented, due to a language barrier, from participating in English or German discussions regarding international law. Typically, communications from subscribers are submitted to a conferencing or chat session in accordance with type-written messages that are then transmitted as entered through the computer network supporting the session. Thus, the need arises for translation of real-time chat or conferencing messages into foreign languages so that subscribers who do not necessarily understand the same languages, but have similar interests can participate in a single real-time discussion or chat.
Real-time conferencing or chat discussions are intended to simulate conversations between subscribers. Although the participants may be in different locations throughout the world, messages are displayed to all participants such that each participant xe2x80x9chearsxe2x80x9d what the other participants are saying just as they would if having a discussion within one room. Communications between participants actually occur in accordance with messages that are typed by a participant, transmitted to the computer network on which the discussion is taking place, and displayed to the other participants so they may read them. A first subscriber participating in a chat session types a message that is then broadcast to the other subscribers participating in the session. A subscriber who wishes to respond to the initial message then types a response which is in turn broadcast to the remaining participants. As current real-time conferencing and chat and systems rely on written or textual data for communications between subscribers, the ability to communication effectively in such sessions may be encumbered by a person""s ability to read and/or type quickly. Persons with disabilities such as blindness or dexterity loss often cannot participate in online conference or chat sessions. Thus, the need arises for a real-time conferencing or chat system that allows subscribers to speak the messages they would like to share with other subscribers and to hear the messages that have been entered or submitted by other subscribers.
The present invention addresses problems in current online chat or conferencing sessions that result from reliance on written or textual data that are transmitted through the computer network as entered by the subscribers. The present invention integrates speech generation and speech recognition technology as well as machine translation technology in an online chat or conferencing system so that subscribers may speak rather than type their messages and hear comments from subscribers who may have entered their messages, possibly in a different language. Speech recognition and speech generation software is integrated with the access software that subscribers use to communicate with the online information service or computer network that facilitates the chat or conferencing session. The speech recognition software accepts as input a subscriber""s spoken words. The speech data is translated to textual data and submitted to the online information service or computer network for processing. Machine translation software (i.e., language translation software) that is resident at the online information service or computer network may translate the textual data into one or more foreign languages depending on various language preferences specified by the participants. The untranslated text as well as the translated text is broadcast to the subscribers participating in the session in accordance with their language preferences. The speech generation software at the subscriber""s computer accepts the textual data, which may have been translated from another language, as input and recites or reads the text to the subscriber. Speech-to-speech chat or conferencing is achieved in accordance with machine translation of communications such that subscribers can speak and hear in their native languages messages which may have been translated from other languages. Consequently, subscribers are no longer required to type and read messages when participating in real-time chat or conferencing sessions. Furthermore, they may participate in chat or conferencing sessions with subscribers who speak different languages. The advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, drawings, and claims.